Dylan tossed and turned in bed for what felt like the thousandth time, willing her thoughts to finally slow down so she could manage at least a few hours of sleep before the beach cleanup tomorrow. The last thing she needed was her friends back on Figure Eight asking why she'd slept so poorly given the events of the day, but every time she closed her eyes, she was back hiding in John B's chicken coop, hearing the footsteps and the click of the gun safety ringing in her ears.

A sharp knock on her window startled Dylan as she leapt into a sitting position, her heart beginning to pound in her chest. Shakily, she got out of bed, reaching for the hardcover book on her nightstand in case she needed to protect herself. She cautiously made her way over to the window, holding the book up defensively with one hand while quickly pushing aside the curtain with the other to catch a glimpse of the intruder.

On the other side of the window stood John B and Kie, and with a sigh of relief, Dylan set the book down, reaching for the window and pulling up the glass. "You're alive," she noted, her eyes moving back and forth between the two of them.

"Nice weapon choice," John B said, nodding towards the book. "What was your plan, to brain us with The Hunger Games?"

"For all I knew, you could've been those guys from earlier." she defended. "I didn't have anything else. What are you guys doing here?"

"We're following one more possibility for Redfield." John B explained. "So Bates, we're giving you an out. You can tell us to leave, and we'll go. You can pretend this never happened, and we'll never bother you about it again. You never asked to be a part of this, so we won't blame you if that's what you want. Or, you can come with us, see this thing through. It's your choice."

Dylan let the weight of John B's words wash over her like a current. She could go free, back to her friends on Figure Eight without giving the Pogues so much as a passing glance, nothing more but memories of a day gone catastrophically wrong. However, she couldn't help but think back to the look on Ms. Lana's face after the men had ransacked her house, and a burning desire spread through her to figure out the truth of what the compass really hid, and to see it through. She'd seen way too much to just pretend like nothing had ever happened.

"I'm coming with you guys," she said, glancing back towards her room one last time, towards the closed door to where her mother laid sound asleep in the other room.

Careful not to wake up Linda, Dylan quickly changed into a pair of denim shorts and pulled on a hoodie over her pajama shirt, grabbing her shoes to lace up her sneakers as John B and Kie both stepped back to give her room. Once her shoes were tied, she began to climb out of the window, carefully dropping to the ground in a crouch before dusting herself off as she rose to her feet.

Dylan followed John B and Kie back towards the Twinkie, where Pope sat in the backseat and JJ sprawled out in the trunk space, a lit joint resting between his fingers. At the sight of Dylan climbing in the backseat next to Pope, JJ sighed, taking another hit of the joint.

"I thought I said we needed to leave the Kook out of it, but nooo, nobody listens to Papa J anymore," he sighed, exhaling the smoke.

"Not a Kook anymore, Maybank," Dylan reminded him, crossing her arms over her chest as she leaned back in her seat.

"You still hang out with the Kooks, and your boyfriend's Kelce, pretty safe to say you're still a Kook, princess." JJ retorted. "Hey, JB, do you mind if I just relax on this one? It's been a long day, and a lot of weird stuff's gone down. I'm just gonna lay low." he extended the joint in Pope's direction. "Oh, did you want a hit of this?" he offered.

"I keep the signal clear," Pope declined, lifting a hand up to block his offer.

"Dude okay," JJ sighed. "Do you understand that your problem is that you don't get creative? If you got creative, then-"

"Just give it to me," Dylan sighed, reaching for the joint and taking it from JJ's outstretched hand before lifting it to her mouth and breathing in the smoke, effectively distracting him from Pope.

JJ watched as Dylan took a hit of the joint, letting the smoke move into her lungs before exhaling and passing it back. A surprised, curious glance crossed his features for a moment before he smirked, nodding. "Alright," he said. "Point taken, princess."

"Look," John B announced, glancing back at the others through the rearview mirror. "I know I was wrong about the lighthouse, alright? And pretty much wrong about everything else going on. But I was right about one thing, okay? My dad is trying to tell me something."

"And that is?" Kie asked, urging him to go on.

"That's what we're going to find out." he said simply.

"Where are we even going?" Pope asked.

"The cemetery," John B said. "I'll explain when we get there."

"Okay," JJ sighed, taking another hit before offering it back to Dylan, who accepted it, an unspoken agreement seeming to pass between the two of them with the offering.

With each hit, Dylan could slowly feel the edges of her stress beginning to melt away, as if she could finally breathe a little better. Even though she hadn't wanted to admit it, she was grateful to JJ for the reprieve, even if the rest of her body still screamed at the stress from the past twelve hours. Dylan looked out the window as they reached the cemetery, and the van slowed to a stop. John B killed the engine, and one by one they each grabbed a flashlight, piling out of the Twinkie and reaching the closed gates of the graveyard.

"Ladies first," JJ said, dramatically gesturing forward to the locked fence, and Kie began to climb overtop, dropping to the ground below.

As soon as Kie hit the ground, Dylan followed suit, climbing the brick wall on the edge of the wrought iron gate. While she'd never broken into a cemetery before, she was no stranger to a few nights sneaking into the country club with Kelce and their friends after closing to use the pool for a midnight swim, usually on a dare from either Topper or their friend Rafe, and although the gates were a little higher than the pool fence, she found herself reaching the top, dropping onto the grass next to Kie as John B climbed after her.

"Alright, come on," John B said, leading the group as soon as JJ and Pope had cleared the gate, and Dylan watched as JJ strapped on a headlamp, the beam illuminating the dark space in front of them even further.

"I'm coming," Kie said. "This place is scary. John B, what are we doing?"

"Shut up," John B said. "Okay so, you know how you're trying to remember a song and can't remember who sings it?"

"Yeah,"

"So, Redfield," he explained as they began to trudge through the overgrown field, and Dylan looked down, careful not to trip over any rocks littering the ground. "This whole time, I thought it was a place, right? But it's not a place." he paused in front of a family mausoleum, lifting the lantern in his hand to illuminate the name carved into the stone.

Redfield.

"It's a person." he concluded.

"Voi-effing-la," JJ whistled.

"See, my great-great-grandmother Olivia... Redfield." John B explained. "That was her maiden name. Guys, help me with the door, come on."

John B stepped forward to the cracked stone door, overgrown with weeds from a shattered point in the top corner, and Pope joined him, both of the boys putting their hands on the rock. "Okay one, two, three," they counted before attempting to push the door aside, but to their disappointment, it stayed firmly in place.

"Are you pushing?" Pope asked, his voice strained with the effort of trying to move the door.

"Yeah, I'm pushing," John B said.

"Come on," Pope urged as JJ stepped forward to try and help.

"Hold on, I got it," JJ said, joining the two other boys, but even with the third addition, the door still stayed firmly in place.

"This door is like seven hundred pounds," Pope said, defeated. "It's not gonna budge."

"We didn't come this far to get this far, alright?" JJ insisted. "We've got this."

Dylan's attention was pulled to the broken corner of the stone as a hissing noise broke through the air, and she let out a small scream as a snake slithered through the rock. The boys all leapt back as the snake continued to slide forward, dropping down onto the ground and slithering through the grass.

"Whoa!" Pope yelled. "Whoa, whoa, whoa!"

"A snake!" JJ exclaimed, and Dylan angled her flashlight down to try and catch the snake's path. "That's a moccasin, alright. Ye olde Dr. Cottonmouth. Death in tall grass."

Dylan leapt back from the snake's path as JJ leaned forward, beginning to loudly bark in its direction. "JJ, shut up!" Kie began to shout, with John B and Pope echoing not long after. "Shut up!"

Dylan watched as the snake began to slither faster away from them, disappearing into the dark at the end of the flashlight beam. JJ stood back, pleased with his work, but Pope watched him with an annoyed glare.

"You're going to wake the freaking dead, man!" Pope scolded.

"They're afraid of dogs, man," JJ pointed out. "Everyone knows that." JJ looked back over at the mausoleum, where John B and Kiara had begun to step closer. "Whoa, hold on, hold on, hold on," he said, holding up a hand.

"What?" John B asked.

"Where there's one, there's probably dozens," JJ pointed out, nodding towards the gap in the stone.

"What?" Pope asked.

"Yeah, all around." JJ insisted.

"Stop, you're scaring me," Kie said, and Dylan continued to move the flashlight beam around where they stood, making sure there weren't any others lingering near their feet.

In response, JJ began to bark again, leaning towards the stone to scare off any that might still be inside, and John B began to sigh. "Stop barking at the snakes!"

"I'm just making sure it's clear," JJ defended.

"Shut up," Pope insisted. "Look, John, look. We're not gonna get in there, alright? It's not budging. We should probably just go."

Dylan glanced over at Kie, who held her flashlight aimed directly at the gap in the stone. The girl was studying the opening in the rock, a thoughtful look on her features. "I think I can get through." Kie spoke up, pulling the attention of the three boys in her direction.

"What?" John B asked. "No, no, no, no, you think you're gonna fit through the hole? That hole?"

"Look, this is about your dad." she said. "And honestly, I really don't believe in it, but you deserve to know the truth. I'll do it. Come on, can you guys help me with that?"

"I've got it," Dylan said, stepping forward to grab a handful of the weeds lining the stone as Pope followed suit, and the two of them began to carefully pull apart the vines covering the rocks.

As they reached a thicker tangle of weeds, Dylan and Pope moved them carefully aside, avoiding the thorns while keeping them out of Kie's way. John B stepped forward to help, and as they held him down, JJ knelt down, offering his hands up to give Kie a boost up to the top of the mausoleum entrance.

"I'm gonna boost you, alright?" he said to Kie. "I've seen it in the movies several times. Ready?"

"Remind me what we're looking for," she said, looking back over at John B.

"You'll know when you see it." he said simply.

Kie nodded. "Hold my flashlight," she replied, passing it to Dylan.

"Alright, put your hands right there," JJ instructed as Kie stepped closer to him, placing her hands on his shoulders. "Foot right here. On three."

"Alright," Kie said, placing her foot in his outstretched hands and immediately pushing off the ground.

"Okay, never mind," JJ scoffed, hoisting Kie up into the air. "Just forget about three."

"I've got it," she assured him, squeezing her way through the tiny crawl space and into the small Redfield family mausoleum. "Okay, flashlight?"

"Here," Dylan said, passing the torch through the space to Kie's outstretched hand.

Dylan and the boys waited as a silence fell over the group, with Kiara beginning to examine the inside of the gravesite. While she hadn't heard anything from the girl since handing her the flashlight, Dylan was also relieved that she hadn't heard any hissing from other snakes that could have been inside, either.

"You alive?" John B asked. "You still have like a- a heartbeat and everything?"

"So far," Kie called back, her voice echoing from inside the stone walls.

"That's good," John B said encouragingly. "That's good,"

"Yep," she agreed. "Uh... I need some more light."

"Yeah, yeah, here," John B said, passing her the big lantern. "Yeah, I've gotcha."

Through the small gap in the stone, Dylan watched as Kie's gaze fell on something against one of the walls, out of the line of sight for the others. She stepped closer to whatever it was, her eyebrows furrowing together as she studied the space before her.

"Did you find something?" JJ asked. "Is there gold?"

"Oh my God," Kie breathed, a chill racing down Dylan's spine at her words.

Without another word, Kie reached down to pick something up before wandering back to the opening in the rock. She first passed John B back the lantern, before passing a sealed FedEx envelope, and once he accepted the two items, began to climb back out of the opening, dropping to the ground between Dylan and Pope.

"That's not gold," Pope pointed out, and Dylan heard the click of a lighter before looking back to see JJ relighting the joint from the car.

"Is this really the time?" she asked.

"Oh, so now you're done sharing?" he retorted. "You weren't complaining back in the Twinkie, princess." he teased.

"Holy shit," John B spoke up, pulling their attention back to him, and he held it up to reveal the words For Bird scrawled in Sharpie across the center of the envelope. "This is from my dad."

Dylan's eyes widened at John B's words, taking in the full force. The wild chase they'd done all the way to the lighthouse, based on the word etched into the compass, had now landed them with some sort of clue to whatever Big John Routledge was attempting to find when he had gone missing. Even though it was just the start of wherever the clue would lead them next, it was a small victory, a validation to John B that this was all happening for a reason, and it was up to them to figure out what it was.

Dylan turned to look back at JJ, but squinted as a bright pair of headlights now illuminated the scene before them, and she lifted a hand to her eyes to block it as the rumbling sounds of the ATV engine reached her ears. "Code red," JJ said, exhaling a cloud of smoke. "Code red. Square groupers, square groupers!"

"We have to go," Dylan said, running after JJ and pushing the rest of the group along with them.

"It's the guys that robbed your house," JJ said to John B, and the five of them quickly turned the corner of the mausoleum, hiding against the wall.

"Light," Kiara spoke up suddenly, turning off the flashlight in her hands, and the others quickly followed suit, crouching down in their attempts to hide from the two men.

Dylan looked over at a beam of light that was still visible from their group, and she found JJ with the end of the joint pressed up against the wall as the boy attempted to stub out the flame. "Turn off your light, man!" Pope whisper yelled, reaching up to turn off the headlamp still attached to his forehead.

"John B, your light too, man," Kie scolded at the other boy, who had the flashlight hidden under his shirt in an attempt to dim the glow.

"I see something!" a voice called as the vehicle slowed to a stop with a squeal, and Dylan tried to peer around the corner to see, but couldn't make out much in the dark.

"Do you think it's them?" Kie asked, and JJ leaned around Dylan, trying to catch a better look at the newcomers.

"Homie's got a gun," JJ said grimly.

"Screw this," Kie said, shaking her head before breaking off into a run.

Shouts echoed from behind them as the others followed after Kiara, sprinting through the dark graveyard with only her flashlight to illuminate the way. Up ahead, Dylan saw the still-locked gates of the closed cemetery, and threw herself forward to start climbing the brick wall, not stopping to think about the next step in her haste to get over the fence to where the Twinkie waited.

"Hurry up!" JJ shouted.

"Go!" Kie yelled.

As Dylan's feet hit the ground on the other side, she turned back to look at the others. While the rest of them had chosen to also climb up the brick, also now reaching the other side, Pope had attempted to climb up one of the wrought iron gate doors, but was stuck standing as one of his pant legs had gotten stuck in the gate.

"Guys!" Pope called. "Guys, I'm stuck, I'm stuck, I'm stuck, guys,"

"Shit," Kie hissed, hurrying back over to where Pope stood on the fence.

"Pope, c'mon, man!" JJ exclaimed, reaching into the waistband of his shorts, and Dylan's eyes widened as he pulled out the gun, clicking the safety off and aiming it forward to where the headlights still grew closer, while Kie hurried back to help Pope off the fence. "Pope, don't move, okay?"

John B hurried back over to JJ, pushing the gun back down as Kie tried to pull Pope down from the gate. "You're gonna rip me," he said to Kie in a panicked tone. "Wait, wait, you're gonna rip me, you're gonna rip me, you're gonna rip me!"

"You're fine, come on!" Kie sighed, and Dylan's jaw dropped as Pope's shorts split, the fabric tearing in two as she pulled the boy down to safety.

"Pope, come on!" John B shouted.

"Nice," JJ smirked as Pope reached the rest of them, and together the five of them took off towards the Twinkie. "Come on, dude. It's a little Tootsie Roll!"

Dylan laughed as Kie pulled open the back door of the van. "Let's go!" Dylan exclaimed as they piled into the van, collapsing into the seat against the window with Kie and Pope as JJ climbed into the passenger seat, and John B quickly turned the key in the ignition, taking off from the graveyard with Pope's shorts still hanging freely against the iron gates.

"That was crazy," Kie mused as they got back onto the road, and Dylan looked over to see Pope sitting on the other side of her, hands held together to cover his white briefs from their view, causing her to try and stifle the giggle that threatened to burst forward.

"Crazy, but at least this time we have a lead." John B pointed out. "Let's get back to the Chateau and see what's inside this thing."

As they finally reached John B's house, they piled out of the Twinkie before heading back inside. To Dylan's surprise, the haphazard mess that no doubt had littered the floor after the place had been ransacked was now swept clean, and except for the occasional mess here and there, the place was nearly spotless in comparison. While John B moved for the dining room, setting the package down on the table next to the lantern and beginning to light candles to illuminate the room, Pope quickly headed into John B's bedroom, pulling on a new pair of shorts. As for JJ, he made a break for the kitchen, pulling out a loaf of Sara Lee bread and a jar of peanut butter and beginning to make a sandwich.

"That bread had mold on it three days ago," Pope said with a disgusted grimace as he walked out of the bedroom, eyeing JJ in the kitchen.

"I'll just pull off the bad parts," JJ said without looking up from the sandwich. "Plus, mold is good for you, it's just a natural organism,"

"JJ," Kie chided impatiently as the others gathered around John B and the package, and JJ quickly finished the sandwich before hurrying over to join them.

"Yep!" he exclaimed. "Hot damn, let's do it." he said, taking a bite of his sandwich, and he immediately began to gag on the moldy bread, instead spitting it out into his hand before throwing it in the garbage.

"Gross," Dylan muttered, her nose wrinkling at his actions.

John B quickly pulled the tab off the parcel, opening the envelope and first pulling out a giant piece of white folded paper. He opened it to reveal a map of Kildare Island, which had been scrawled on with a black Sharpie, including patterns, coordinates, and towards the center of the map, a hastily drawn X.

"Holy shit," John B breathed.

"Oh," Pope said, pointing down to the X. "X marks the spot."

"Longitude," John B breathed, moving his finger along the map to trace the lines. "Latitude." he moved the package, his eyebrows furrowing together as he looked back down at it. "Wait, there's something else in here."

John B reached into the parcel, pulling out a small silver device and holding it up to the light so he could begin to study it. "What's that?" JJ asked.

"It's a tape recorder, dumbass," Kie muttered.

John B pressed a button on the tape recorder, and a red light began to glow. "Dear Bird," a low voice rang out from the recording, John B's face immediately falling at the familiarity of the sound before he hit pause.

"Who's Bird?" JJ asked.

"That's what my dad called me," John B said, hitting play on the tape recorder once more.

"I hate to say 'I told you so,' but I told you so." Big John said over the recorder, and Dylan looked up to see the four Pogues all exchanging serious looks with one another. "And you doubted your old man. I suspect at this moment you're filled with guilt and self-loathing over our last fight, but don't kill yourself just yet, kid. I didn't expect to find the Merchant, either."

At his words, Dylan looked back up again, her eyes now meeting JJ's as he looked over in her direction. From back in Big John's office, it was obvious how much research had gone into searching for the Royal Merchant, and now there the location was in front of them on the map, marked plain as day for them to find.

"You were probably right to call me out." the recording continued. "I wasn't exactly Father of the Decade. What can I say, kid? I could smell the barn. And hopefully we're listenin' to this in our brand new sugar-shack in Costa Rica, livin' off passive investments and pulling on permits." he sighed. "If not, and you find this for less than optimal reasons, well, that's what the map is for. There she is, the wreck of the Merchant. If somethin' happens to me, finish what I started. Go for the gold, kid. I love you, Bird, even if I didn't always act like it. I'll see you on the other side."

A click sounded from the recording before fading away into static electricity, and John B pressed the power button on the device, rendering it silent. He set it back down onto the table, rising from his chair before collapsing against the doorframe, heaving sobs beginning to wrack through the boy's body.

"Holy shit, he did it!" JJ exclaimed. "Big John, he found the Merchant-"

"JJ," Kie said, cutting him off as she looked back at where John B still stood leaning against the doorframe. "JJ, can you... can you please?"

"Sorry," the boy quickly fell silent, his gaze moving down to the ground.

Kie tentatively stepped over towards John B, placing a hand on his shoulder as she leaned in to hug him from behind. At her touch, he seemed to melt into her hug, crying even harder, and Dylan looked back over at JJ and Pope before her gaze fell on the window leading to the backyard, and the dock at the edge of the grass, as she suddenly felt as if they were invading the space of their two friends in the doorway.

"Come on," she said, gesturing towards the back door. "We should give them some space."

The boys nodded, following Dylan out of the house with the lantern, and they wandered out to the dock, the moon illuminating the grass before them and reflecting off of the water ahead. Dylan took a seat on the dock with JJ and Pope on either side of her, the former reaching into a cooler sitting on the dock and pulling out a can of Pabst Blue Ribbon beer for each of them.

"For a job well done," JJ toasted, opening his can with the crackling sound of the tab popping open. "And to however much money is waiting for us at the end of that map."

Dylan smiled, cracking open her own can and taking a sip of the beverage, looking out at the water beyond. After the events of the day they'd had, it was weird to begin to feel a sense of normalcy at the mundane events of drinking beer with the two other boys, who she still didn't know very well but would've likely run from under any other circumstances, especially after JJ's incident at the Boneyard the other night.

After a few minutes, John B and Kie wandered out to join them on the dock, a ukulele clutched in the girl's hands. John B carried over a second lantern, which he hung on one of the dock's wooden frames above them, to give them a little bit more light. JJ handed them each a can of PBR as they took their seats, and Kie began to mindlessly strum the instrument, Dylan smiling at the sounds of the chords reaching her ears.

However, she couldn't help but look over at John B, studying the expression on the boy's face. He seemed calm on the outside, but she couldn't even begin to imagine how he was really feeling after hearing the recording. After nine months of hearing his father was lost at sea in some sort of accident, to find out the truth that he was right this entire time about his father's disappearance, and how it must've related to his work to find the Merchant, she could only begin to guess at what was going on inside the boy's head.

"How much was it again?" JJ asked, sitting with his feet hanging off the dock.

"Four hundred mil," Pope answered, causing Dylan's eyes to widen in response.

"Alright, let's talk the split," JJ said, swinging a leg back over the ledge to face the rest of them. "Now, before we say 'evenly,' may I remind you that I am the only one that can properly defend us from those groupers who were after us. Protection? Not cheap, okay?"

"And yet, the one time we actually needed it, it was in your backpack on the front porch," Dylan pointed out, her head tilting as she eyed the boy next to her.

"Touche, princess," he said, raising a hand and pointing a finger in her direction. "Touche,"

"You haven't trained," Pope protested. "You've done zero training."

"YouTube, bro!" JJ insisted. "That's at least a five percent bump right there. Any objections? Didn't think so."

"Yeah," Pope said.

"I didn't hear any, so..." JJ trailed off, ignoring the other boy.

"What are you gonna do with your eighty mil, Pope?" Kie asked.

"Pay for college in advance," Pope explained, already knowing his answer. "And also textbooks. Those are expensive."

"What about you, Kie?" JJ asked.

"Yeah, what does a socialist do when she's rich?" Pope added.

Kie chuckled. "I just want to make a double album." she explained. "About OBX, the Pogues. You know, the way Catch a Fire is about Kingston. Record it at Marley Studios, Peter Tosh producing."

"Peter Tosh is dead," Pope pointed out.

"Peter Tosh is dead, I know that," she echoed. "Spirit of Peter Tosh will never die."

"Actually, I know what I'm gonna do." JJ spoke up. "I'm gonna get a big ass house on Figure Eight and go full Kook."

"You're gonna go full Kook?" Pope asked.

"Yep," JJ insisted, nodding. I'm gonna get a marble statue of myself, and then I'm gonna get a koi pond. Put a bunch of those fish in."

"I know a house that just went up on the market over there you can have." Dylan said in an attempt to make light of her own situation. "It's nice, very Kook-y. No koi pond, but I'm sure that can be added in the backyard."

"What about you?" JJ asked, looking back at her.

Dylan let out a deep breath, taking a sip of her beer as she thought about it. Eighty million dollars would be more than enough to solve the predicament of her father's arrest, and would leave more than plenty for them to live on while she and her mom both got back on their feet.

"I guess I'd get my life back." she said, staring down at the dock below her feet and not meeting any of the eyes now staring at her. "Everything was in my dad's name back on Figure Eight, but if I was able to put it in mine, problem solved."

When Dylan finally looked back up, she saw Kiara staring back at her, nodding in understanding. "What about you, JB?" Pope asked, looking back over at the other boy.

John B looked back at them with a smile, raising his beer can in a form of toast. "To going full Kook."

The others laughed, raising their cans alongside him and bringing them together, accompanied by the dull sounds of the metal clinking against metal. "To going full Kook." they chorused, able to pretend that, for at least one moment, that they didn't have a single care in the world.